Token
by Ngoc Chau
Summary: Your hair needs cutting." had been the first thing he said to her. She never understood his disdain for her hair. And perhaps she will never know why. Young Alice/Mad Hatter Fluffy


**Ngoc Chau does not own Alice In Wonderland**

**This is for Wind Alias who inspired me and I hope she likes it.**

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_"The loving smile will surely hail,_  
_The love-gift of a fairy tale."_

-Charles Dodgson

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"Your hair needs cutting." had been the first thing he said to her that fateful day when her curiosity had incited her to follow the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole.

And from that day on, whenever she played with the bright colourful characters of Wonderland and her hair would blow into her mouth, forcing her to brush them back or shake the curly locks away; he would smile directly at her and point with a thimble-covered finger, "Your hair needs cutting."  
She pouted whenever he said that because her father loved her golden blonde hair that was so much lighter than her older sister's. He had been the one to encourage her to let her hair down while her mother was strict in making sure it was tied up and out of her face. As if she would ever cut away the length of hair that represented her trust in her father.

Soon, whenever he would tell her that, she had begun to repeat his words, "Hatter, your hair needs cutting."

His face would glaze over as though unsure at what he had just heard exactly, but the sly devious smile would come with his green eyes shining brighter than ever. From his pockets, he would pull out a pair of scissors and bring the long shiny blades to his fiery red hair, cutting it all off to a crooked shoulder length with one sweep of his arm. Taking the hair (each time he showed her the handful it looked shorter than the last time he cut it for her expense) and bringing it to her, he would tell her, "Advice can be the most useful and the most useless thing in the world."

She would laugh at him offering his hair to her like that and playfully pinch his hand. She would never cut her hair, not for all the tea in England nor all the hats in the world.

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It was one day when she had come over for a tea party, but saw no sign of him in his large armchair at the end of the table. She asked the March Hare who was having tea with a very tired Dormouse, "Mr Hare, have you seen Hatter? Why is he not here for the tea party today?"

The hare did not answer her, though luckily she received her answer from the Cheshire cat who floated by not a second longer, "He's hatting, my dear Alice. For that is what Hatters do and if a Hatter does not hat, he can't really be a Hatter, now."

She motioned for him to come closer and as he did float closer down, his body disappeared in little blue wisps until only the azure eyes and grin with tiny pointy teeth remained. "Where is the Hatter? How may I find him? May you direct me to him?" she asked in a quieted whisper, as though what she was telling him was of utmost secret and letting everyone else know would be hazardous, "Is that specific enough for you, Cheshire puss?"

He laughed and re-appeared in front of her. "This way." he whispered as he guided her in a cloud of smoke, floating and flying away while her little legs struggled to keep up with him. On and on, she walked with the Cheshire Puss, asking him all sorts of questions such as:  
"Why are the tiger-lillies so rude?"  
"Is that Red Queen and her nasty Knave still bullying the frogs?"  
"Has the poor White Knight ever found his sandwiches? If so, has he lost them all again?"  
"Where is the White Rabbit? I do miss him so"  
"Did the beaver ever find the snark? Or was it the boojum that they were looking for?"  
and on and on. After walking a long way away(stopping by to talk to the flowers every so often), they finally arrived at the White Queen's castle.

The White Queen was very lovely and she was by far the most favorite queen to Alice. She was always smiling and laughing and dancing and humming that Alice could just imagine her as one of the princesses and fairy queen in her fairytales. She sat at her silver white throne and motioned for Alice to come forth, "Alice, how nice to see you again!" she said airily as she rose from the chair.

Alice bowed and curtseyed low to the queen, a smile on her face as she did so, and asked for where the Hatter could be.

The lovely queen directed Alice down the hall up the stairs, through the window, under the door, and over the chair to the hatter's hatting room where he should still be there working on hats for all the ladies in the castle.  
Alice eagerly ran to the door, but she remembered once on her visits to Wonderland, the hatter had played a very nasty joke on her by hiding behind the door and so when she entered the world after drinking the pishalver, he had scared her to run back into the door and lock it.

It was only after about an hour of coaxing(she was sure it was an huor because she had counted 60 seconds 60 times) and bribing of letting her wear his hat and to have the largest slice of cake at the tea party did she finally agree to come out.  
She had been very strict with him, pinching him endlessly under the table at the tea party for it, and he promised never to scare her again like that, but she had never really trusted him after that.  
But the look on his face whenever he begged for her to trust him would convince her to unwittingly trust him. But, it was her time for her to get her revenge and let him have a taste of his own medicine(she hoped it would taste very yucky for him because she wanted so for it to be yucky for him).

Going to the door, she slowly opened the door, making sure that no sounds were heard and creeping in on tip-toe. She watched as he moved back and forth at the length of his table; the sound of his sewing machine harmonized with the quick vibrant tune he was whistling as he worked. His hat was left on a dummy head next to him and she bit her tongue to withhold a laugh as she saw that his feet would kick a little bit every so often as if he was dancing. Not wanting to lose her nerve so soon or give away the secretcy of her spying skills, she ran to the Hatter in quick running steps.  
She flung her little arms around his midsection, her cheek pressed to the small of his back, and screamed as loud as she could, "BOO!"

He jumped and screamed while she laughed at his fit. He laughed deep and low in that outlandish brogue she loved to hear, the consonants crashing into each other, "Now, where is that slithy Alice? That gallymoggers Alice?"

She screamed again, laughing as she did so, "BOO!"

He spun around too quick and caught her in his arms, holding her close and pinching her nose and cheek. After a moment of getting her giggles in order, he offered her tea that suddenly appeared out of nowhere to which she drank hungrily and accepted an apple scone(though she thought it was too scone-y and not enough apple-y).  
Alice asked what was it that he was doing and he replied he was hatting.

"Hatting what?" she asked exasperatingly as she rolled her eyes.

"Hats." a giggle from him.

"For who." a sigh from her.

"People." a chortle from him.

"What sort of people." another sigh.

"The people at court." a hearty laugh, tossing his head back.

She gazed at one of the hats and her attention was immediately attracted to one that was a sparkling white with long peacock feathers and rhinestones at the brim. "I really like that hat."

"It's is the queen's hat." he told her proudly, his eyes glazing as he looked at it.

"Would you make me a hat? I would very much like it." she asked him, standing so close to him and marveling at how shiny and neat the hat looked.

"Would you cut your hair? I would very much like it." She looked up at him and noticed how and where that comment had formed; her hair brushed against his arm and he caught it between his bandaged fingers. "Your hair is much too long, it's much too shiny, and it's much too blonde. It's too much of a muchness. It needs to be cut."

"I like my hair." she pouted.

"I like it too, but it would look better cut."  
He sounded like her mother in that moment.

She leapt up to sit on his work table, her legs crossed over each other while she watched him work at his trade and finish up the last touches on the hats.  
They chattered away about everything and nothing,  
"**Have you noticed that the weather is getting darker? **Yes, it's probably because the moon is trying to steal more space from the sun."  
"Have you ever seen a woodchuck chuck a chunk of wood at a duck? **Goodness, what a ridiculous idea!** You're probably right, a wood chuck don't chuck wood."  
"Have you ever wondered where dreams came from?"  
**"Niven's is getting a little bit fat nowadays.** Are you going to tell him so? **Of course not, it's impolite!**"  
"The Tweedles are arguing again. **About what?** About who can be the best Tweedle."  
"**I don't understand**. Understand what, Cricket? **I don't understand where the wind blows from and where it's going**. You could always ask him. **But he goes too fast for me**."

On and on, their conversations were carried through like nonsense and even about the most serious things.

It was suddenly that from his pockets he puled out 2 pieces of wires that had been looped together with pracitcally no way of seperating unless one would take a hammer to it. He bragged that the other day, he had found this puzzle and solved it, then challenged her if she could solve the puzzle as well. She pulled and pulled against it and even tried twisting it but the thing wouldn't give up.  
"Could you help me with it?" she asked as she held it out to him.

He shook his head with a mocking smile, "Now, where's the fun in that if I were to give you a clue how to do it? Wouldn't it more satisfying to do it yourself? Or go crazy trying to solve it? Honestly, Alice, where are your senses today? Has it gone off with your non-senses?"

She glared at him and reached her hand over to pinch him for laughing at her frustration. "You're mean, Hatter."

To which he replied so non-chalontly, "Ditto."

While she struggled with the puzzle that he had handed her, she had the unfortunate habit of always bowing over and trying hard to pull the wretched thing apart. Her hair would fall over her shoulders and she would blow it away or flick it back, but that only postponed it a bit more before it fell over her shoulder again. Her own little grunts as she struggled to pull the puzzle apart melded in a cacophony with the Hatter's rapid breathing and heated mutterings under his breath. She could hear him pacing back and forth far away as she tried hard and hard to pull the puzzle apart.  
What sort of stupid puzzle was this?  
How could you get the loop apart from the other loop?

She looked up at him, about to ask him how in the world he had managed to solve it, and saw him staring her with wide eyes and his mouth open in a sort of gaping expression. She was unsure at what he was staring at and went back to the puzzle at hand, trying to finish it so that she could rub it in his face that she could do it. Her hair fell over the looping pieces of metal and she brushed it away in frustration. it was only as her hand slipped through the locks, did she realize what it was...  
_'Oh dear...' _she thought to herself as her eyes went back up to follow the even faster breathing and mumblings of the Mad Hatter.

The Hatter apperantly noticed the habit and it got to him immensely, for she saw a quick glimpse of his eyes flickering a slight gold. His eyes literally burned on her and she felt chills as though she was suddenly facing something dangerous. She wasn't sure if she liked it or it actually scared her.  
The sight of his eyes glowing deep amber and his hair almost looking even more wild as though it was real fire, the authority that his wide positioned stance practically demanded and the tension she could see a mile away in his hands as he gripped the counter behind him. His eyes shifted and his eyebrows waggled at her as though he could've been joking but the all too serious expression on his face stiffled her coming giggles. His face hit that angle where all she could focus on were those eyes glowing through the red and white of him.  
"Your hair needs cutting!" he told her in the most serious voice she had ever heard.

The Hatter's form loomed as he left his hats on the head stands and came towards her. His hands were held out, spaced wide almost as though preparing to grab her. She would've been terribly frightened if not for the smile that was growing clear on his face and the green in his eyes dancing around so playfully.  
_'It's a game!'_ she thought in great realization when he stepped closer with his knees touching his chest and his feet pointing straight down to the ground as it rose.

He lunged for her with a mocking lion's growl and she squealed in delight, running away under his arms. All around the hat room, they chased and tagged each other till at one point, she was the one chasing him. Then somehow, she did not know, he saw the mistake in who was chasing whom and quickly corrected it. Up and through the chairs, over and under the table they sprinted. She could've sworn once that he had spanned the ceiling to get in front of her but when she had tried to run up to the ceiling, she was not even able to get on the walls. It was all great fun; having him chase after her and throwing the rounded balls of silky ribbon at each other. He had such a rubber arm, he did not hit her once, missing her constantly by a mile; she, on the other hand, had hit him 3 times on the head with 2 balls of fluffy pink ribbon and once with a tiny ball of black yarn. All at once while they ran, his hat suddenly flew off his head yet he continued chasing her all over the room.  
She ducked down to pick up his hat with her little monkey fingers and held it tight to her head as she ran and screamed in glee. "Nyah! Nyah! Nyah-nyah-na-nyah-na! Can't catch me, Hatter!" she laughed in that bell of a voice.

But no sooner had she said that, his arms swooped in from nowhere and picked her up. "Caught you! Caught you! I caught the Alice! I win! You lose!"  
He held her tight, looping his arms around her like the knots would for a bow and spun her round and round until she wasn't sure if her feet really was touching the ground. She laughed loud in his ear and screamed, not caring whether or not anyone heard her, and held him back tight, his large oversized green hat with the long pink scarf wrapped around it still in her grasp. Finally, he swung her to stand on top of his working table and proclaimed, still holding her little hands in his bandaged ones, "I get my prize now."

"Hatter," she said to him, "how can you win at tag? Were we playing tag even in the first place?"

He laughed as he took his hat from her hands and placed it back on top of his head. "You see, I win simply because I win and you lose. What could be more simpler than that, little Cricket?"

"Hatter, that's not fair! You didn't tell me that we were playing like that! You just started chasing me!"

He '_tsked_' her, waving his finger at her haughtily and admonished with that sly tone, she wasn't sure if he was kidding or being very serious in his own way, "Alice, just because you lost, you needn't try to get out of it. It's good sportsmanship when you admit you lost to someone better than you."

"_You're_ not better than me!" she screamed at him, her hands jumping to her hips and her face getting flushed, "I think - I_ know_ - I'm better than you!"

He chuckled and eyed her carefully with gold creeping into his irises, "Cricket, I'm taller and older than you. Those are already 2 things I'm better than you at. Now, I know more words than you and I can count to infinity twice. That's another 2 things I'm better than you. I can make tea and hats. Again, those are another 2 things I'm better at than you. Most of all, I'm better at being myself than you are at being myself or even yourself. So that's another thing I'm better at than you... or is it 2? Now, Cricket, I'm sure that whatever you can do I can do better."

She pouted and stamped her feet on the table because after listening to that argument, it really did seem that he was better than her and if he argued that being taller was better, how could she argue back that being shorter was better when it certainly wasn't(she often had trouble getting to the cookie-jaw, you see, or any of those high places out of her reach). They were stubborn with each other of who was it that won and was it really a good 'won'.  
She listed the reasons of how he had not actually won and tricked her while he countered each one with a fact about what winning was and how even if they had not been playing a game of tag, it was inevitable that he would win at something else against her. She was not so easily moved and stamped her feet and pinched his hands every time they came close to her to tickle her into admitting to him that he won when he really did not.

"Cricket, I won the game and you owe me a prize." he said.

Alice admitted that he won - let the baby have his bottle. But she wasn't sure what she could give him as a prize. She had no pockets and nothing in said pockets, so what could countas a prize? She shook her head at him, "I don't know what to give you for winning. You already won and I lost, isn't that a good enough prize for you?"

He took on a devious grin and advised, "Say, Cricket, what if you were to let me do... whatever I wanted with your bonny self for.... as long as I wanted? That would be a good prize."

Alice carefully weighed her options; she could honestly let the Hatter do whatever he wanted with her for as long as he wanted or continue arguing. If she were to argue, he would probably bring the conversation back to the matter of a prize(he really was a stubborn hatter) until he finally got a prize or whatever could be substituted for it. But then again, what could it be that the Hatter wanted to do with her, something that he needed her permission for?  
Alice agreed and he started laughing his maniacal laugh.

"Hatter, it won't hurt, will it?"

He laughed and tapped her hand, "Only if you move too much, Cricket." He turned around from her, seeming to go off to get something first. As he took that step forward, he turned back on his heels and asked Alice, "Alice, do you promise that I could do whatever I want with you for as long as I wanted?"

She nodded her head nervously. What was it that he was swearing her to and why did it sound so... naughty?

He held up a pinky, "Pinky promise?" She giggled and locked pinkies with him, shaking on their deal and squeezing his pinky as hard as she could. Just as she was about to sit on the table, he suddenly picked her up and carried her like he would with one of the large rolls of fabric to a high chair in a corner of his hatting room. Sitting her there, his thimbled fingers traced down her shoulder and she felt shivers. "Hatter, what are you doing?"

He laughed, "Exactly what I said: the one thing I've always wanted to do."  
She felt nerved sitting on the very high chair as he disappeared somewhere and came back with a large crumpled bundle sheet in his hands.  
"I'm going to give you a haircut."

She thought he was joking. He was always trying to scare her and trick her for his amusement. But watching him come closer and the scissors poking out of his pockets warned her contrarywise. "You're just trying to scare me like before, aren't you, Hatter?" she half laughed and half whimpered. He only giggled and that did nothing to calm her.

He wrapped the long sheet around her, it definitely was starting to feel like a haircut and she was actually thinking that he might've been serious. She could feel her sobs coming through her throat, "Hatter, I don't want a haircut..."

The tone of his voice was gentle and it had a lace of regret in it, "Cricket, you promised me and a promise is a promise. Besides, I promise you that the haircut will make you look even prettier and you will like it."

She sniffled, wiping at her running nose now, "That's what mother said about the shots last spring and they hurted!"

He chuckled a small laugh and told her, "But that's a Mother promise. You're going to get a Hatter promise and a swear; meaning I swear that you will like this haircut and I promise that it will not hurt."

She nodded at his smiling face, with eyes that appeared to grow wide and an airy green for that expression that she could only trust and confide in. Darn that puppy-look of his that made her smile! The corners of her lips turned up and she had to laugh, careful to not let her fright appear through her tone. He told her to close her eyes and she asked why. He replied that a surprise haircut is always better than _just_ a haircut.  
She didn't want to close her eyes for fear of how far he might go with that haircut, but his pleading puppy-eyes begged, "I swear that you will like this haircut and I promise that it will not hurt."

Alice nodded briefly and tightened her lips as she closed her eyes shut and saw darkness overtaking her. She heard a giggle in his voice and the tapping of his feet as he jumped around the tall chair she was sitting on. She felt his hands pulling at her hair, combing and brushing and the snipping sounds of scissors dance about the top of her head like fairy dust. Her head was feeling light and she could feel the locks that had always scratched and tickled the back of her neck disappear - to perhaps the floor. Lock by lock, she could feel her hair disappear from around her and she had no idea what to think about it.  
She wondered if he had cut off her hair until it reached to her ears. She wondered if he had lopped her completely bald. She wondered if he had also dyed a few bits of it a strange colour for that seemed so like him.  
She heard coutless snipping and felt countless pullings on her hair. Just how much exactly was he cutting off?

Growing nervous at the feeling of lightness on her head and tugging on her hair, she asked if she could finally see the haircut. But he replied that it was not done and a little longer. Again and again, she asked if she could see it and if it was done. But for each time she asked, he responded that he wasn't done cutting and if she ruined the surprise, he might accidently cut off her eyebrows as well. Hatter whistled as he worked and she felt a lump in her stomach at the idea that he was enjoying cutting away her hair while she was regretting it immensely.

Finally, he exclaimed, "Finished!"

She opened her eyes to see how much he had cut away of her beautiful long hair. She was frightened and surely ready to cry, the tears welling up in her eyes as she opened them. Yet she gasped at the mirror reflection in front of them both. She had on the top of her head, a beautiful cap with ribbons in all sorts of places, tiny feathers that swooped like tiny little wings on the sides, and a heart - a pin, she assumed - in the middle of the hat. As her fingertips moved up to touch the hat, she realized what had been the tugging on her hair, the ribbons of the hat was tied with her hair braided, creating an amazing effect that almost had the appearance of the dark navy hat sprouting like a flower from the roots of her scalp.  
However, the only thing out of place was that while most of her hair had been tied back, a significant lock had been left out. Though at the end of the golden lock was a ribbon tied in a very neat bow.

She was about to ask for that haircut he said that he was about to give her, but before she could utter anything, his thimble covered fingers graced her cheek so delicately that she felt goosebumps rise from the contact. Her eyes wanted to roll into the back of her head and her spine wanted to melt into each other like a telescope, but she controled herself for this was not the time for any sort of fainting. He in front of her filled her entire view of everything and all she saw was Hatter and more Hatter. Every scene and corner of her vision was solely Mad Hatter.

Alice felt more and more uneasy, staring into those shiny green eyes of his that had that strange colour of gold and pink pulsating like heartbeats. He smiled a strange smile, a smile that was so unlike his usual one with a crooked corner of his mouth and gapped teeth, but a smile that was closed-lipped and anxious almost. His long scissors traced the side of her face where his fingers had been and she wondered in a moment of brief horror if the long blade would accidently puncture her skin. But the scissors moved so slowly over to the lock or hair, over the hill of her cheek.

_Snip._

The distinct tone of metal meeting metal echoed in her ears and she feeling of something on the side of her face disappeared. Her hand raised up nervously to check to see if he had indeed done what she had thought he had done. He had cut away the lock of hair. She was about to ask him for the strangeness of the hair cut and the reason for the ribbon around it. But watching him with the small fingerful of golden hair in his fingertips, watching him hold it in a way that she was he had something devious - plotting - in his mind.

He twirled the lock of hair in his fingertips, the navy ribbon looping around the thimbles on his fingers. She blushed at the sight of him staring at her: his eyes almost half-closed and his smile was lazy. She spied the lock of hair scaping into the pocket of his waist-coat.  
_'Right over the heart.'_ she remarked to herself romantically. She leaned closer to him, her baby voice echoing strangely all of a sudden, "Is my hair still too long, Hatter?"

He shook his head, the orange frizz going everywhere and she giggled at him shaking his head. He moved clsoer to him, the static of his hair tickling the naked skin at her head and murmered so quietly, "I think, now, your hair looks much better."

He smiled to her and kissed her gently, like a butterfly would, on the top of her left brow.

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**Hope you liked it.**

**Did you know that there is some myth that Lewis Carrolll may have been in love with Alice Liddell and may have also had pedophilic tendacies? I mean, he took pictures of naked girls and was rather fond of them, not liking boy-children at all. If he was still alive today, I'm sure that looking over at the Tim Burton movie, he would give the hatter a nasty habit of constantly stuttering and having it so that Alice could've stayed with him.**

**ps**

**The picture is on my deviantart page. If you would like to see it, tell me so in a review or a PM**


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